Al-Nusra White Helmets responsible for destruction of aid convoy

Russia
points finger at Al-Nusra White Helmets over UN convoy "fire"

The
UN has reported that its humanitarian convoy en route to two
residential areas in the Aleppo and Homs provinces was bombed. The
International Red Cross Committee has confirmed the death of one
volunteer and 20 civilians.

Saudi
Arabia’s permanent representative to the UN has accused Syrian
government forces of bombing the convoy. The US State Department
has since stated that they will “reconsider the prospects of
cooperation with Russia on Syria.”

The
Kremlin has called accusations against Moscow and Damascus
unfounded and the Ministry of Defense that the Russian and Syrian
air forces did not launch any airstrike against the
humanitarian convoy.

What
happened?

On
Monday, the UN announced the shipment of humanitarian aid to
two residential areas in the provinces of Aleppo and Homs. The
convoy was marked with the UN emblem and the Syrian Arab Red
Crescent. Permission to pass was received from both Damascus and
the armed opposition. The convoy was carrying aid for 78,000
people, including blankets and basic necessities.

However,
near Urum al-Kubra, northwest of Aleppo, the convoy was bombed. 18
of the 31 trucks came under fire. “At the present moment, we can
confirm the death of one of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent’s
employees. But we are still assessing the information and have
different figures,” RIA Novosti was told by the International
Federation of the Red Cross’ (IFRC) press secretary, Benoit
Carpentier.

Carpentier
added that it was the IFRC’s division director responsible for
the operation that was killed. Later it became known that the
victims of the bombing included at least 20 civilians.

A
warehouse and Syrian Red Crescent hospital also came under fire.
After the attack, the IFRC decided to postpone the delivery of
humanitarian aid to four Syrian cities.

As
RIA Novosti was told by the Bureau for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Lerche, the UN has reported the shelling
to Russia and the US and is counting on an investigation to be
launched.

International
reactions

Saudi
Arabia has blamed the strike on the humanitarian convoy on Syrian
government forces. A similar position has been echoed by the US
State Department.

According
to Secretary of State John Kerry, “the Russians should exercise
their influence on Assad who is obviously indiscriminately bombing
everything, including humanitarian convoys.”

However,
Kerry recognized that Washington “does not have all the facts on
this issue” and urged for new information to be awaited.

“The
United States will raise the issue with Russia. Given flagrant
violations of the ceasefire, we will reconsider the prospects of
cooperation with Russia,” the State Department head stated

Russian
presidential press-secretary Dmitry Peskov has remarked that that
there is an “extremely tense situation with the ceasefire in
Syria” and recalled that Syrian soldiers were the only units that
complied with the ceasefire. The defense ministry has emphasized
that neither Russian nor Syrian air forces launched any airstrikes
on the UN humanitarian convoy in the southwestern outskirts of
Aleppo.

“What’s
more, due to the fact that the convoy’s route was passing through
the territory controlled by militants, the Russian Center for
Reconciliation of Warring Sides in Syria supported the convoy with
UAV monitoring”, the official representative of the ministry,
Major-General Igor Konashenkov, stated

According
to him, at around 13:40 on Monday, the entire humanitarian load was
safely delivered, after which the Center for Reconciliation stopped
monitoring the convoy and its further movement was not tracked by
the Russian side.

Konashenkov
added that an analysis of the video from the scene of events showed
no signs of the column’s shelling, such as craters or typical
damage to vehicles. He remarked that all that was demonstrated in
the video footage resembles the direct consequence of a cargo fire.

Who
started the fire and why “can only be answered as always
‘coincidentally’ by those who turn out in the right time in the
right place with video cameras - those representatives of the
'White Helmets' organization close to Jebat al-Nusra,” the
defense ministry’s official representative concluded.